As the truth becomes harder to refute, minimizers will shift from denying the harms of allowing unchecked COVID spread, to saying there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
This is the exact thing that happened with climate. Climate deniers shifted to saying there’s nothing we can do to stop climate change when they realized there was too much evidence to plausibly deny climate science outright. The same is happening with COVID and #LongCOVID.
When COVID minimizers say “we can’t stop it, so let’s give up on prevention & focus on treatments,” please understand that they won’t actually fight for treatments. Their goal is to end all public health protections, but they are trying to disguise it in a more palatable message.
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You can't wear a mask when eating or drinking in a restaurant/bar. And it's hard to wear a mask 100% of the time at home.
But you can easily wear a mask continuously when seeing the doctor or catching public transport. Wearing a mask makes essential services accessible to all.
There's a lot of disinformation claiming "mask mandates don't work on the population level." These lies ignore the nuance: even when broad mask mandates were in effect, COVID was being spread in social spaces and at home when masks came off.
For specific spaces where people are able to wear masks continuously like in hospitals, on public transport, and yes, even schools, studies show mask mandates are effective in mitigating COVID spread. They serve a key role keeping essential spaces open and accessible to all.
"Once the emergency expires, people with private insurance will have some out-of-pocket costs for vaccines, tests and treatment, while the uninsured will have to pay for those expenses in their entirety." apnews.com/article/biden-…
Here's a great breakdown on what ending the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency means for healthcare access: kff.org/coronavirus-co…
When the Public Health Emergency ends "for people without insurance, there will no longer be a pathway through Medicaid for free COVID-19 testing, vaccines, or treatment."
Organizing tip for COVID activists: Highlighting (a) how elites are protecting themselves but not others (#DavosSafe) & (b) higher risk people are being harmed & locked out of society by status quo policies, are the most effective talking points for achieving policy change.
To get policy change, we need to shift passive allies into active allies. Many passive allies with large resources care about things like climate & healthcare for all, but are standing on the sidelines for COVID. Messaging about inequity resonates, & can get them to mobilize.
This organizing strategy is known as "Spectrum of Allies," and highlights how the key to getting change to happen is to focus on shifting neutral and passive allies into active allies, rather than overfocusing on an opposition that will never be won over. trainings.350.org/?resource=spec….
Immunocompromised, elderly, and higher risk people deserve a return to some sense of normalcy too.
For higher risk people to have some sense of normalcy, we need to have COVID protections, not ignore the pandemic.
For higher risk people to have some sense of normalcy, that means we need to be wearing masks. Masks aren’t lockdowns, they’re the opposite. They make it possible for everyone to access society when virus spread is high.
This is infuriating. @DrLeanaWen has pushed for policies that have resulted in excluding immunocompromised people from society. Pieces like this are self-serving & intended to provide her cover. If she really cared, she would be pushing for equitable policies like mask mandates.
@DrLeanaWen feigns caring for higher risk people but then says we need to "balance" public health policies. But immunocompromised people are much more greatly harmed by being locked out of society, than people are for wearing a mask. That isn't "balanced."
In her piece, she also perpetuates the false minimizer talking points about infinite lockdowns and forever masking.
“The Justice Department on Tuesday asked an appeals court panel to reverse an April 2021 ruling that declared unlawful a government order requiring masks on airplanes, buses, trains, ridesharing services & at airports & other transportation hubs”
It’s disappointing that the government has not been pushing to challenge this ruling faster. Opposition lawyers have even used their lack of urgency in arguments against them.